"The film noir male is an infinitely watchable being. Sometimes he is extremely violent, like Neville Brand's Chester in D.O.A. (1950). Sometimes he is a rigid but flawed authority figure, like Kirk Douglas's Jim McLeod in Detective Story (1951).

Other films present him as a ruthless crime boss, a hapless male whose life is turned upside down by his longing for a certain woman, or even a courageous man on the right side of the law. More than ninety actors who starred in the films noirs of the 1940s and 1950s are presented here."--Jacket.